$5.50 Tiki Drink Specials all evening.
Mai Tai '44 plus two more Tiki classics.
Exotica on the sound system, great food and great company.

Wearing Tiki / Hawaiian / Island wear is not required, but strongly encouraged and rewarded. All first timers and those wearing some kind of Tiki / Hawaiian / Island wear will be entered into our door prize drawing. A special door prize of a $20 Tiki Thirstday gift certificate will be drawn when we have an evening where we have 25 or more attending our Tiki Thirstday. All entries stay in the door prize pool, so the more often you visit and qualify, the better your chances are of being picked.

House of Foong Lin's charm is that they are an old school Chinese/Asian restaurant that kept the classic Tiki drinks going long after they all but disappeared from most menus. They have also been amazingly receptive to the local Ohana that have discovered this non-trendy oasis. They have brought in special rums to cater to their Tiki regulars, upped their game with several drink additions to the menu (a very respectable Black Magic, a Mai Tai '44 and Mai Tai 52, among them). Also, the food is some of the very best Chinese food in the Washington, DC area.

EASY PARKING: There is a 200 space municipal parking lot directly across the street.

Why Drive If You Can Metro: House of Foong Lin is only a 5 minute walk from the Bethesda Metro station.

On 2014-07-08 22:38, VampiressRN wrote:How fun...looks like you guys have a great place for a meet-up. Thanks for posting pictures and CHEERS to all.

Mahalo for the kind words and encouragement. More of us who are disappointed for the lack of local Tiki should try to find a local spot receptive to adding a little Tiki to their bar menu. It starts off with a couple of drinks and if those go well, perhaps they too will expand. Nothing ventured nothing mixed. It's worth a try.

Tonight we celebrate with Tiki Thirstday 17 (no, not the movie with William Holden), and I can happily say that it is going strong and growing. Mahalo to all who come and share. We've gone from a dozen friends who wondered if it could work at all, to a regular night out that we all look forward to each week (or as often as life allows). Lately we've been very full with our last six weeks averaging over 30 people, but even when the numbers do run low, the torches burn bright and the Aloha spirit is high.

And though I have been mentioning numbers, it is just to share how we are growing - to merely mark the high and low tides. Our Tiki Thirstday night out, like Tiki itself, is not about how many, but how much. How much pleasure comes from gathering together. How much the soft blue glow of a flame in an exotic drink can transport you to another place and time. How much relaxation that comes from an evening of "Island Time." It is in this spirit I'd like to share a couple of comments sent to me recently from some of you who say it so well...

"It's good people and good times, and even if you don't know anyone... the crowd is so welcoming that you'll have some new friends even if you just come to one."

"This is the tiki/Ohana spirit I think many of us forget when we get wrapped up in our own collections and ideas of what it means to be tiki. "

Tonight for those who can...Guest DJs Wanted! Do you have a iPod, iPad, iPhone, just filled to the brim with Exotica and other Tiki themed music? If you've got, or can make a long playlist (around two hours), bring it in and we'll hook you up to the sound system in the Lounge.

Bring a favorite or fun Tiki mugThe eagle eyed among you may have noticed some of us bringing our own Tiki mugs to enjoy our drinks in. Aside from keeping track of your drink, it is another way of Tiki-ing up our evening and may be the beginnings of a Mug Club that some of our Thirstdayers have been talking about.

Who is interested in having...A "Vinyl Night" Tiki Thirstday night over the next few weeks? One of our new regulars, Josè, has generously offered to bring a vintage turntable and some of his vinyl Exotica collection to play for us. Others could bring in some of their favorite vinyl to mix in as well. Please let me know via email or at tonight's gathering if this is something you'd like to see us have.

Still looking for...Chef Fu is looking for few quality "fan back" or "Peacock" rattan/wicker chairs to help decorate the Lounge. If any of you know where these can be bought new, especially locally, that would be a great help. Fyi, several good friends have pointed to second hand/Craig's List bargains, but because this will be restaurant seating (perhaps one chair each at 2-4 of the front tables), they need to be first quality and hold up to daily use.

Rather than a separate listing for every Tiki Thirstday, I'll update the heading/dates for the main listing and add new details as needed. If anyone has opinions as to whether this listing is good/bad/worse let me know.

Do you have an iPod/iPhone full of Exotica and other Tiki themed music? If you can, please create a playlist of about 90 minutes to 2 hours and we'll spin it up on the house sound system for everyone to enjoy.

Why only Exotica and Tiki themed music? If you think about it, you can hear everything else (inluding Buffett) at bars and restaurants everywhere else. At the area's *only Tiki Night Out - with the area's largest Tiki drink menu, we want to add to the lounge atmosphere and keep up the theme.

*Other places in the area have a few Tiki drinks on the menu, but when you go to those places almost no one is wearing Aloha/Tiki wear and they aren't playing themed music.

Say, Dr. Coruba - if you'd like, I'd be happy to post a notice about your monthly get-together on the Facebook page for Critiki. I can post a link to this thread, or if there's a Facebook page/event for this I could link to that. I think folks would love to hear about it, especially since you guys are in a bit of a tiki desert!

On 2014-07-18 16:34, Humuhumu wrote:Say, Dr. Coruba - if you'd like, I'd be happy to post a notice about your monthly get-together on the Facebook page for Critiki. I can post a link to this thread, or if there's a Facebook page/event for this I could link to that. I think folks would love to hear about it, especially since you guys are in a bit of a tiki desert!

Mahalo, Humuhumu! Just sent you an email with some info. Always glad to have someone grab an oar and help paddle.

[[[((8-0))]]] Recap of Tiki Thirstday XVIII, July 17 [[[((8-0))]]]
Tiki Thirstday kept rolling along for number 18 this week. New faces along with our ever ready regulars brought our gathering to the mystical number 31. Alohas to Jerry and Sandy, Peter and Patti for having friends that enticed them in for a first time visit that we hope will not be their last.

Due to the generosity of several of our regulars (Sabina and Mike, Lena, Lisa, and John) we have a surplus of added items to our door prize pool. We're working on an interesting way to add them to the mix. Look for our first try this Thursday, July 24.

When is your Birthday? Send me your birthday date and we will raise a toast to you on the Tiki Thirstday closest to the actual date of your birthday. If your birthday actually falls ON one of our Tiki ThirstdaysAND you let me know well ahead of time, there may be something special in store for you.

(As Always) Huge Mahaloz to Miss Ling, who makes our drinks, and Our Host, Chef Fu who has graciously given us use and the run of his lounge (and sweetened the deal with our Tiki Drink specials and wonderful food). They are delighted we are here and please take the time to let them know how much you are enjoying a place to Tiki with your friends.

Just a short heads up about this week's Tiki Thirstday. It really looks like this week's gathering will be our largest, and possibly much bigger than the 39 we had recently - which is wonderful news. Tiki Thirstday is an evening best enjoyed shared.

For those who have any kind of preference in where you sit, I recommend arriving earlier than usual. Though we will arrange for some extra seats in the bar/lounge area, it won't push the normal 29 seats much past about 36. Especially if you like sit at the bar, those 10 spaces fill up quick.

While the lounge tables can squeeze in extras for those who are doing cocktails and appetizers, they can get tight when more than 4 people are having main course dinners. If you think your party or group of friends you may be bringing will be five or more, you'll probably want to get a table in the dining room. If you hope to have a larger table of friends (8 to 12+), you might want to call Miss Ling at the restaurant. There are only 2 tables in the dining room that handle the much larger numbers and you'd want to make sure one of those are reserved for you. The number at HoFL is 301-656-3427, again ask for Ling. (If you do request a table in the dining room, be sure to mention that you are coming for Tiki Thirstday)

As a special incentive to arrive early, a special "one night only" Mai Tai is being specially made and will be served starting at 6 pm. Because some of the ingredients are difficult to obtain and cannot be regularly stocked, those wishing to try this "limited edition" Mai Tai Royale will definitely want to come early because when it runs out, that's it. I know that this will be my drink for the evening (as long as it lasts)  I'm betting that you'll enjoy it that much too.

Normally RSVPs are not requested, but if you are planning to attend, please help out the cause and email me that you are coming and how many. If we have a good sense of numbers going into Wednesday it could give the restaurant a chance to bring in some extra waitstaff (if warranted) and could help the evening go that much smoother.

Look for some more details about some extras we've planned later this week in the regular invite email.

[[[((8-0))]]] Recap of Tiki Thirstday XIX, July 24 [[[((8-0))]]]
Don't know where to start with this update... Amazing would not even begin to describe to huge turnout we had this last Tiki Thirstday. The official count stopped at 78 people! Unofficially the number tippled past 82 with several late night stragglers who swung by late just to see if we were still there. Part of it was no doubt the three birthdays we we celebrating - including Chef Fu's, and though there were a decent number of first timers, most of it was from the large number of Ohana that we have collected up over these last 19 weeks. A very special Aloha to those who came down from Baltimore to specially celebrate Lauren's birthday.

Chef Fu made special arrangements to have extra help in the kitchen, so he was able to spend much more time out in the restaurant with our Tiki Thirstdayers! He looked great in his Tiki shirt and later in the evening he was rocking in a special custom embroidered chef's apron presented to him by a group of his friends and regulars.

Thanks to some folks with cameras we have some photos to share this week.

[[[((8-0))]]] Recap of Tiki Thirstday XX, July 31 [[[((8-0))]]]
Hale and Hearty Mahalos to the sixteen Merry Souls who kept the Tiki Thirstday torches lit last week. After July 31st's sky high numbers (over eighty!), any number was going to seem small by comparison. This night's gathering proved that a fun Tiki night out doesn't depend on how many, but how much Aloha Spirit is on hand.

Thanks to better limes finally hitting the local market, the Mai Tai '44s that night would have put a smile on ol' Vic himself. We had several people who had found us only the week before make a return visit and our door prize winner that night was one of our newest visitors. Congratulations Michael.